The film was written by Aseem Arora. Although initially set to be released on 6 June 2008,[2] it was pushed to 24 October 2008, the opening weekend of the holiday Diwali. On 22 November 2008 the script of Heroes was asked to be part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[3]
Plot
Two film academy students, Sameer (Sohail Khan) and Ali (Vatsal Sheth), must make a movie in order to graduate. They choose to create a documentary illustrating reasons not to join the Indian Armed Forces and go on a motorcycle road trip bearing three letters they have been given to deliver — each from a slain soldier to his family.
On their first stop, in Atari, a village near Amritsar in the Punjab, they meet the widow, Kuljeet Kaur (Preity Zinta), and the son, Jasvinder Singh (Jassi), of an Indian Army soldier, Havildar Balkar Singh (Salman Khan) of 8 Sikh Regiment, who was killed in action three years earlier in Kargil. Instead of finding a family distraught and questioning the sacrifice, the students find that the entire village is immensely proud of Balkar Singh's heroism and his ultimate sacrifice for the country. His family, particularly his wife, displays great courage and an undefeated spirit. It is the first time Sameer and Ali truly begin to understand the honour and pride associated with serving in the armed forces, deeply contrasting with their initial cynical documentary premise.
The students' second stop, Himachal Pradesh, finds them meeting now wheelchair-using Indian Air Force officer, Sqn Leader Vikram Shergill (Sunny Deol), whose Army officer brother, Captain Dhananjay Shergill (Bobby Deol), of 18 Grenadiers, had been martyred in the Kargil war. Vikram is very proud of his brother's bravery and sacrifice. He shows them how he has come to terms with his own grief. He confronts and defeats a group of unruly young men in a fight despite his debilitating injury when one of them inappropriately touches his girlfriend, Saloni (Hrishitaa Bhatt). This makes Sameer and Ali realize Vikram’s underlying pride, strength, and perhaps his way of externally processing or demonstrating his resilience despite his physical injury and emotional loss.
The third letter is to be delivered to a Mr. and Mrs. Naqvi (played by Mithun Chakraborty and Prateeksha Lonkar), but their bike runs out of petrol, and they hitch a ride on a military convoy heading to a nearby base. They see soldiers' coffins in the truck, and the driver quotes an inspiring poem. At the base, they talk to the regiment commander and find another letter by Lt. Sahil Naqvi (Dino Morea) of Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry, which they request to deliver themselves. They see that Mrs. Naqvi is busy at a tea party, hardly paying any attention. Sameer accuses her of not loving her son and says that Sahil is a coward. Mrs. Naqvi plays them a tape which Sahil had recorded after he had saved another soldier's life. She tells him that she and her husband have been affected, and the parties serve as a distraction for them. They leave, but return the next day and slowly bring the couple's life back to normal.
After completing their film, they reveal in a voiceover that although they graduated, they did not go to America (as they had initially planned) because the trip changed their outlook. They try to join the Army but fail, then start a school to share their experiences.
Some years later, Sameer and Ali are walking around their school campus. An officer in an olive green uniform (Salman Khan) approaches them. This is revealed to be Jassi, the son of the first martyred army officer. Now a strapping young man, he has joined the army like his father and will soon graduate from the IMA as a Leutinent. The movie ends with the statement, "You don't have to be a soldier to love your country".
Originally titled Mera Bharat Mahaan (My India is Great), the film was rechristened Heroes, to avoid sounding jingoistic.[4]
Filming began on 15 June 2007. Salman and Preity are paired opposite each other, in their fifth film together.[5] Shooting took place in Ladakh,[6]Chandigarh, Punjab and Delhi.[7] Some scenes were shot in Pangong Tso featuring Salman Khan, Sohail Khan and Vatsal Sheth.[8]
Heroes received generally positive reviews from critics. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the movie 3.5 stars out of 5.[9]
According to The Indian Express, the film does manage to say what it set out to; that pride keeps the families of the deceased soldiers going, civilians sleep peacefully only because soldiers give up their lives, and that a country survives only because it has brave soldiers guarding its borders. But it argues the director is too simplistic and that wringing emotion out of so many situations causes even the supreme sacrifice that the soldiers make turn trite.[10]India Times movies gave the movie 3 out of 5.[11]
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